My vow is to start doing this again... really!!!

It has been over 6 months and I have not done a single thing on here!!! I have no excuses... I do, however, intend to start up again. Some friends and family far away continue to remind me that I haven't blogged in a long time :) Also, I think that it will be good for me, throw some thoughts out there!!! So here is my "New Blogging Beginning!"

Back to blogging!!!

Slacking is not even the word... I didn't think that I'd go this long without posting anything! Life in the Ulufale household has been many things... busy... trying... fun... mostly busy... The kids have all gone back to school. Kiale in 2nd grade, Maia in 8th and Kalani in 9th. Sports still rules our free time. Maia is Cheering for the Puyallup Roughriders, the team that Kiale is again playing football for. Kalani had Sidewinder tryouts last month and is once again playing for the 14u fastpitch team with them.

The summer flew by so fast! It started with Kalani's graduation from Concordia, followed by our trip to Vegas the very next day. That was Charlie's first time there, he wasn't too impressed with the city itself, but we did find an awesome Hawai'ian restaurant and the time with our Sidewinder Ohana was lots of fun. Spent lots of time with our extended family here this summer. Made it to a Kikaha race to support them... Kiale even got to paddle when he stayed at Uncle Apua's while we were in Vegas and he LOVED IT! Had our annual 4th of July party with around 70 or so people this year. That was FUN, FUN, FUN!

There have been a few trying times lately... Caused by outside factors, of course. We'll be back in court for Child Support issues soon. It amazes me how no matter how much Charlie does, both in supporting the girls and financially, it's never enough for some people. I've seen greed at it's best in the last few months. This is nothing new, so he and I just laugh about it. I've learned that money is just that, money... You can't take it with you when you die, and it doesn't define you. People will, however, remember the KIND of person that you were and how you TREATED OTHERS. We've been floored by what Kaila and Kalani have been told and not told, and they are both forming their own opinions about situations now. I've seen how a parent can ask a child to LIE to the other parent and then not own up to it. What can I say... not much surprises me anymore, but like I said, it's so LAUGHABLE!!! Pathetic and sad, but laughable...

On a more positive note, Kaila has "come back to the island". It's going to be a slow healing process because of all the things that has happened, but time will heal all wounds. After she and I talked, we figured out that there were so many things that she was/wasn't told, things that would have probably changed how the situation played out a year and a half ago. We were both angry about the hidden truth, but are concentrating on mending instead of dwelling on the past. She's struggling with the mistakes that she's made over the last few years, mainly with not keeping her grades up. She and I are working on ways to get her to college, however the options are minimal right now. She'll get there, and she knows that her dad and I will do whatever we can to make that happen, since she has no other support. The poor child is basically living in a house where her turning 18 is the goal so that she can get out, and may just get kicked out from what the girls tell us... Inspite of everything that has happened with us, we still love and support her because she is ours. She still knows where her support system is!!!

So life here has been all of the above and more. Charlie and I hit our 10 year mark last Spring and we're still happy and going strong! He was so cute... He told me that he was "never leaving me". When I asked if I was stuck, he said, "No, you can leave me, but I'm gonna follow!" Big poppa....

Maia's Poem

Maia is doing a project for English tonight. She had to paste some pictures of her family and write some stuff about herself. She also put this poem that she wrote about her grandpa, Anthony Salema. He was a very wonderful man....

I LOVE YOU
By: Maia Salema
3 years
3 years of happiness, love and
3 years that I felt special
These 3 years were what they are
Because you were there right next to me
I miss those years
I miss your hugs
Your kisses
And you’re loving and comforting voice
When you sing me to sleep while holding me in you arms
I love the feeling I got when you
Held me and sang to me
I want that feeling again
I miss you coming home from work
And me hiding behind the kitchen counter
You always knew where I was
But it still took you forever to find me
But… I don’t know where
You are anymore
And I don’t know if I will ever
Be able to find you again
Where are you
Why can’t I find you?
Why don’t I have you next to me papa?
I want you back
Why did you let that cancer take you from us?
Why couldn’t you have fought that cancer
Just a little bit longer?
Just long enough for me to have more memories with you
More time that we spent together
More stories to tell
Your 2 beautiful granddaughters today
I think if you were here today
That I would be a better person
Making better decisions
Here today
I want you to come back
Appear in front of me when I wake up
To pick me up out of my bed
And say, “ Maia, I love you and I missed you so much”
So I hope
And will keep hoping until it happens that
When I do wake up you will be there
Why I keep hoping you may ask,
Because I still think I am in
A nightmare that I can’t wake up from
I miss you
I love you
I want you back
I want you hear to put my heart back together
That broke when you left me
You don’t know how many tears I have shed
Because of you leaving
But, for malia and mealani
I put on a straight face when I talk
To them about you
I want them to think of you as happy
Not sad
So papa
Keep reminding me
That you will always be with me in my heart
Your love I will share with malia and mealani
Help me remember
That you left for a reason
But never make me stop feeling
The sadness I feel
It makes me remember you
I want to remember you
All I ask is that
You never leave inside of me
Don’t ever leave my heart
Because…
Well Papa

I Love You

Spring means busy!!!

It seems like most of my posts talk about just how busy we are. But seriously, WE ARE!!! It's not that I'm being lazy or anything! ;)

Spring / Summer is the craziest time for us!!! Kiale has started his baseball season. He had his opening Jamboree on Saturday. They played 3 games and won all 3! He had a couple plays in the outfield that resulted in outs and hit everytime that he was at bat. He was super excited and proud.

Maia has her first track meet tomorrow. She's actually a really good "discus-ette"! (Sorry couldnt come up with a better word) I found it funny that she joined track since she HATES running!

Kalani's softball season is in full effect. They have played 2 tournaments thus far and have won both of them! The Sidewinders Tournament is this weekend. That should be a good one. And they're playing right down the road, so no early morning on Saturday :)

We're getting ready to do a poker tournament on May 30th. If anyone would like an invitation, just let me know. The guys had a blast at the last one! We're also doing one at Gordon's on the 9th for my nephew brody.

Kiale's sign up for Roughriders is next week. I can't believe that we'll be back in Football season in just a few months! Maia's sign up is the same day for Roughrider Cheerleaders. Can you believe that they practice everyday just like the football players ?!?!? Not quite the same kind of "cheerleading" that I remember.

Maia will also be doing Volleyball Camp at PLU this year. It seems to be a sport that she really enjoys, so I figure that I'll encourage it.

On the social side, we got to see our ohana last weekend at my niece Kealani's Quincenera. It was really cool since I'd never been to one. It had actually been over 2 months since we were all together! Minna even made the trip up from Astoria!!! It was so nice just being together, as we all got sentimental saying things like how it "just feels right" (Minna's quote)!!! We did miss a few of the group... Shalana and Ilima, John and Missy, Kevin and Allyne... But we'll all be together on the 16th for the Uncle Manu Race. Can't wait for that one. I FINALLY got to meet my nephew Micah Fontes.... And he is a chunky one!!! And Kiale's buddy Gabe got to come home with us that night. They are so good together!!!

Baby-itis...

It seems like everywhere I turn, someone is pregnant! Lianne is getting induced tomorrow... Tanya is due in like a week or so... My cousin Desiree just told me last week that she's pregnant... And I keep seeing all these pregnant women EVERYWHERE! People always ask me and Charlie when we're having another. I tell them that they're CRAZEE!!!Maia and Kalani have 5 and 4 more years till they graduate and Kiale is out of his "little boy" stage. When all my kids are out of the house, I'll still be young :) I'm just gonna love on all my nieces and nephews to get my fix....

What's been going on

Busy... Very busy...

- Maia started her basketball season. She's had 4 games so far and is doing great!!! I was worried about how she'd do, since cheerleading is more her thing, but she's a defensive machine! :)

- Kalani's school basketball team won LEST in Portland, and have now been invited to Nationals in Indiana. There are 2 bumps in the road... 1 ~ They leave in 23 days which leaves very little time for fundraising and 2~ The school is tying our hands when it comes to fundraising. It's so ridiculous. They've got to raise like $11,000 for the team to go... Yah...

- Maia is leaving for Ashland, OR tomorrow with her class. Every year, Charles Wright does a BIG "field trip". This year, they're going to the Shakespeare festival for 4 days. She's excited!

- Kiale is gearing up for his baseball season. He's been out of sports for about 2 months now, so we've got to get back into the swing of things with him!!! Lots of water, more fruits etc...

- I'm waiting for my nephew Mikah Fontes to be born!!! He should've been here last week, so we're all very anxious!

- The Sidewinder moms have started the ball rolling on two fundraisers, Selling plates at their big tournament in May and the Luau. The goal... get the WHOLE teams' trip to Nationals paid for!!!

- I'm slowly figuring out just how hard it is to get together with friends. Libby and I have been talking about getting coffee for weeks. Lili and I are trying to do a lunch. I haven't seen Kim in like 9,254 days :) and now, me Zenaida and Stormi and hoping to do the Melting Pot one night :)

And on top of all this, summer is right around the corner! I've started planning our summer vacation. No, it's not Hawai'i :( all though I wish it was! California will have to do this year, and even that is a maybe. I mentioned that it would all be good if we didn't have any "financial bumps in the road" on an earlier post, and of course, BUMP! This bump, however, is more like a never-ending rash that just doesn't go away, no matter how much ointment you put on it or how you try and ignore it... Or an evil virus with no cure... Or a pain in your ASS, maybe a hemroid... But hey, Nike says "Just Do It", I say "Just LAUGH!!!" Bitterness and animosity are two traits that I will NEVER have. Unfortunately, for some, it's embedded into their souls and EXUDES for everyone to see. Even if they think that others don't!!!

They won!!!

After all these years... Concordia's Girls Basketball team finally took the Championships at LEST. When Kaila was in the 7th and 8th grade, we thought that they had a chance. Nope... Last year, Kalani was in the 7th grade and they were in the finals and lost to St. John's Lutheran School from Napa, California and lost. This year, they played them again and WON!!! The final score was 31-27 and it was a great game. Well worth the drive to Portland and back. Congrats, Lady Warriors!!!

Thinking about travel plans

It starts with tomorrow... We're going to Portland to watch Kalani's team play the championship game against Napa at L.E.S.T. Last year, they played the same team in the finals, but lost. Hopefully this year, it'll be different!

I've also started looking for our package to Vegas. Kalani has a tournament there in June, so he and I thought that we'd go, just Charlie and I, to watch. Charlie's never been to Vegas, so this is a great chance for us to go and have fun. We're going alone {:)}, our first trip without the kids since 2000! We went to Mexico that year for 8 days and had an absolute blast!!! 9 months later, Kiale was born :) The same thing will not happen this time, guaranteed!!! We always joke about how Kiale's got "Made in Mexico" stamped on his butt... I'm excited to see my friend Tara Joy who lives in Vegas when we go. Last time I saw her was 5 years ago at my grandma's birthday party! We've been able to keep in touch through myspace and facebook, though.

Two days after we get back from Vegas, we'll be headed to Hillsboro, Oregon for another tournament. We'll be taking the whole family for that one, so it should be fun.

In August, we're planning on driving all the way to DISNEYLAND! I've never been to Disney in California or Florida, but I have been to Disney Tokyo, which isn't something that too many people can say. Kalani and Maia have both been, but this will be Kiale's first time. He's so excited. Hopefully this trip pans out, as long as theres no financial bumps in the road! Life throws so many curve balls, it's crazy!!! I'm hoping to make it all the way down to San Diego to see my cousin Jaime who I haven't seen for YEARS now!!! He and I are the same age and grew up together. It'll be nice to sit and talk stories with him after so long.

The question I keep hearing...

Over and over again... "What's going on with Kaila?" We've been through so much with that kid. Her dad has been burned one too many times. She's just never gonna get it. We've always tried to teach our kids the importance and value of family. Kaila had just that. We gave her forgiveness. We gave her support in every aspect of her life. We gave her freedom. We gave her trust. We gave her responsibility with reward. We gave her love. We gave her communication. We gave her a shoulder to cry on. We gave her reliability. All we asked for in return was honesty and respect.

First, we lost the honesty. She had met a boy. She told us about him... He was 19 and still in high school. She was 15, at the time. She got the expected no, of course. After that, we busted her still communicating with him in an inappropriate manner. Charlie went and talked to the boy, but apparently he didn't get the picture.

With losing the honesty, we lost the respect since lying was being disrespectful. More poor choices on her part caused us to make the hardest decision, that we were done with her. Some people may wonder how a parent can come to that decision, but after all that we've been through with her, it was the right one. I'm not saying that it was an easy one, it was just the opposite. But the things that this kid did were just unbelievable. She put a price tag on her relationship with her dad when she tried to sue him for about $8000, what she though the value of all her material crap that she left here was. (And the value wasn't even close to that much). She even tried to sue him for the stuff that WE bought her.

All though it was difficult at first, we just laugh about it now.

But lets look at where her life has led her:

-She's still with that guy, who is now 20. He has no drivers liscense, no job, no college, no future. The best line that I heard came from one of my good friends, she said "If you're gonna dog your family, make sure that he's good looking and got lots of money or something!" So true. It's pretty sad when HIS family is telling me that he's a loser.

-Her grades have plummeted. When Kaila was here she had A's and B's. She's spent the entire school year pulling herself out of a hole, trying to bring up F's and D's.

-She made a softball team, but they're nothing compared to the team that Kalani is on. Me and Kalani joke about how Kalani's 14u team could beat their 18u team. And from what we hear, she's got no one to pay for her softball fees.

-We had her one foot in the door at UH. We had set a path for her to be a Warrior and to even play softball for them at some point in her college career. Now, she better get those Community College Applications out.

Through all of this, it's been harder for us to NOT do anything. It was so hard for me to NOT tell her that it would all be ok, and that we would work it out. I didn't give birth to her, but she's still my daughter, but I'll support Charlie's decisions regardless. He's doing fine with everything now, but the scars will always be there. We both don't see anything that she could possibly do to fix what she's done.

Do I have anything to say to Kaila? I'm not sure. I think that her not being apart of our family anymore affects her more than anything that I could ever say. She's missed out on so much. A second trip to Hawai'i to visit the family... Having 20+ people at her games cheering her on... Every single aspect of her brothers life, his first football season, his wrestling victories... Those are things that you can never get back.

If I had to say anything to her, it'd probably be this... my favorite saying...

"Keep your eye on the destination... Remember your upbringing and the values we have instilled in you... Ho'omaika'i ~ go and be a light to the world"

We so tried to implant this motto into her head. I can name a thousand examples that would represent this saying, but obviously, none of it got embedded into that brain of hers.

Have I really not posted in February???

Guess not... But I will tomorrow... PROMISE!

Argh... the insomia

Charlie works at 4 a.m. and gets of at 12:30. Every morning, I get up (to get him up) and have a few moments before he has to go to work. Like now... He left about 20 minutes ago, and I'm up... still... Yesterday I was up from 3:15 till 5:30 in the morning, then had to wake up at 7:45 to get Kiale ready for school. Thank goodness he doesn't start until 9:10! Now when Maia comes home from her dads, that's another story. She starts school at 8:15 and it's about a 1/2 hour drive. She's super independent, though. I just have to wake her up at 6:30 so that she can get ready (you know, the girly stuff... clothes, hair, etc...) and she pretty much takes care of herself. She'll even pop in a bagel or something if she does eat breakfast. Not sure what the deal is with pre-teens not eating breakfast these days! Ok, off track... I must be tired... Maybe I'll attempt to go back to sleep ;)

So you all know that I love a bargain...

At the same time, I do love nice things. Lately, my jeans craze has been with Joe's Jeans. Charlie bought me one day after Thanksgiving. Scored that one for about $100 with tax, not too bad because they are usually $160. Today, I went to Macy's because I had a couple of gift cards. So I peeked in Impulse to see if I could find anything. Low and behold, there was a clearance rack... 60% off original price. And there was 1 pair of Joe's Jeans there... Just my size... Just the style that I like.. Different color than the one that I have. It was originally $158, and it was marked down to $98. I figured it had to be a little lower than that. So when the clerk rang it up, it was $58.00!!! So after my 2 gift cards, I ended up paying like $14 for a $160 pair of jeans!!!! SCORE!!!

Time and Friendship...

Time lets us know that we're getting older... Specifically, gaps of time. While in Hawai'i, I posted about getting to see my oldest "BFF" Simone. On Friday, I got to see another long lost friend.

My Senior year in High School, a quiet country girl from Honoka'a came to St. Josephs. Instantly, Tanya Sanchez and I clicked. I don't know if it was our small-town upbringing or our likes in the same music (strictly reggae back then) that connected us at first, but whatever it was, it layed the foundation for a lifelong friendship.

I remember that one year that we spent together in High School. Yup, just one. Lots of fun nights where all the details can't be remembered due to "extra-curricular activities"... Cruzing aimlessly down at 4-mile till the wee hours of the morning... Sneeking off to Hilo when we were supposed to be in Honoka'a... Hanging with our "crew", where she and I were the only girls and the guys saw us as equals... Both of us almost getting kicked out of school, on different occasions... Aah, the memories that create a unending friendship...

After graduation, she immediately got married and I left for Oregon. Still, we kept in touch. Everytime I came home, we were together. Phone calls from wherever I was to wherever she was.

The last time she and I saw each other was when my Maia and her Kayla were 1 year old. They're 5 months apart. We can never forget that first meeting of the girls since Maia got bit by Kayla :)

On Friday night, I got to sit with my friend and remenisce and talk about where our lives have brought us. I got to meet her better half, Shawn, and she got to finally meet Charlie. We sat and ate our sushi as though we had done just that the week before, like no time had passed whatsoever. As we walked around the Muckleshoot Casino, we just kept looking at each other saying, "I can't believe we're here, just cruzing...". Just like 15 years ago, I look to my side, and there she is... Still...My best friend, just like before... Same smile... Same gorgeous green eyes...

At the end of the night, we left with big hugs and kisses and the phrase, "Not another 11 years, ok!!!" LUV U TANYA!!! I'll see you again soon...

Whew!!!

Wow... Where did the time go! The Holidays came and went (Thankfully). Our New Years Eve was just as eventful and blessed as every other day, spent with family and friends (pics to be posted laster!). It just couldn't have been any better!!!

When the big rains came last week, we were hit HARD! Mother Nature unleashed her fury on Washington and we caught the brunt of it. Our basement flooded out, about 4 inches of water and things floating by... Our driveway turned into a RIVER... And our front lawn turned into a lake!!! We spent about 3 days pumping out the downstairs and actually couldn't drive thru all that water on Thursday. Made for a nice relaxing day at home :)

Kiale's Wrestling season has come to an end, and it ended with VICTORY!!! His last 3 tournaments he placed 2nd, 1st and 1st!!! He has come such a long way from when he started. He's got the knack for picking up on sports quickly and for being able to execute what he learns. His coaches were both proud and impressed. We're totally looking forward to next season.

I'm a bit under the weather right now, so I'll do more blogs with pics about specific stuff once I stop sneezing and my nose stops running!!!

Celebrating Christmas

Yes, the kids said that they had a great Christmas!!! Charlie can't remember when they didn't have a good one!!! Here are the kids with their "big gifts".

Our dinner was delish... The lobster, so yumms!!!

And here they are before we started opening presents... Rashan, Kiale, Kalani and Maia... The fam bam!!!